March 28, 2013

For the Block of the Month for March, our guild had a stash buster block.

Those little squares were 1.5" x 1.5" each and there were 48 of them - whew! I love the way the block turned out though and it makes me feel better that I save almost every teeny tiny scrap as they sure came in handy for this block.

March 27, 2013

I hesitate to post in progess photos in case they change, but if they do, so what right?

In that spirit, here is a pillow I am planning on finishing today! It is for my Modernista partner who requested something colorful and indicated she likes white and gray.

To challenge myself, I plan to put piping on the outside edges just to fancy it up a bit, but this is where I was at early this morning. Max seems to think it is fine and Mr. Maxtin saw it last night and mentioned that he really likes the pattern so perhaps there will be more of these in my future.

Also, my quilter contacted me and my Easter surprise quilt is ready to be picked up so I will make time to run and get that today, so that I can put on the binding and be ready to give it away this weekend. I'll get pictures, I promise!

March 26, 2013

Have you ever ordered fabric for no reason. Well you like it right? That is reason enough but in case you need a few more:
-it has been a while since you ordered so you just wanted to stop in and wave a hello
-they are offering a coupon code (that is dangerous territory)
-they offer pearl bracelets at a fantastic price
-you know they (she) ships fast
-and your old stash fabric is lonely and needs a new stash fabric to lay next to, like a fresh pillow

I was strolling through the aisles websites of my favorite (online) fabric shops and this is what I ended up with. Funny thing is, when I ordered these, I was just planning to add to my stash. The neutrals, the oval elements blenders and aqua.

BUT....when I got them in the mail, and stared at them, I think they go together really well and I just might make a project with them, all together, and I didn't even mean to do that. Isn't fabric shopping fun?

March 25, 2013

This finish is a long time coming! September 2011 is when I asked my Fall Bee Mates to create Wonky Square Blocks for me. At the time, I had not figured out what style I liked so I used the dotted fabric as my color palette choices. Obviously, this was the beginning of my entrance into modern quilting as I included green (not a color I care for now).

I was going to do some FMQ on this but when the time came to do it, I just wasn't feeling it, so I used a curvy stitch from my machine to do horizontal lines.

Something new that I tried with this quilt was machine binding. Never again! Hand binding is enjoyable to me. Machine binding was a bit more difficult. I had to keep checking the other side to make sure I was catching it and I got stuck from my pins a lot too. It may be that with machine bindings I would need to have a bigger strip. I prefer 2" bindings currently and that was probably a hindrance.

In any event, it's done and I am oh so happy to move this very old WIP to the completed list!

March 23, 2013

For our Pile O Fabric Skillbuilder Blocks this month, I did some more FMQ. The more I do, the more I feel like I need to practice. I just haven't found my groove yet, except for pebbles. I feel like I rock at pebbles!

March 22, 2013

New things are exciting, and a bit intimidating too! One of my secret swap partners asked for a fabric basket so...I had to try one. I used the tutorial by the uber talented Aymui here.

The tutorial called for 2" squares but I made mine 2 1/2" and instead of two rows, I used 3. This is the first time I have worked with both linen and interfacing. The linen was a bit loose, but I just used a bit of starch. The interfacing.....ummmm, I don't really care for it. Perhaps I was using the wrong kind. It was Pellon 987, which I see now, says fusible fleece. When I went to set it to the linen, it didn't adhere. One of my girlfriends said that maybe I got a bad batch. Bummer :( Anyway, I just topstitched a little more and it worked out just fine.

I left my hole to turn it inside out on the side of the lining, per the tutorial and I think I will always do it that way. It works well and I like that when you look down in the bag (because we do that so often right?) it is a continuous piece of fabric, with no seam at the bottom.

Here is the finished creation! (with Max looking on)

But....my partner asked for a largish fabric basket and this just wasn't going to cut it. I believe she would like to put her current projects in it so I had to try this again and make it bigger.

I used 1" gray on top, 5 1" printed strips and a 7" gray on the bottom.

Mission accomplished, it is bigger, but I think the handles may be a bit small (perhaps I should have made them wider) but I do like where they are. It still seems smaller but it will fit some projects. Also, perhaps I need some stronger interfacing for larger projects because this bag, although larger, seems droopy to me.

It is a sense of accomplishment to finish a project I have never done before but I will have to read up on interfacing/fusible fleece and the ideal projects for both. Do you have any tips?

March 20, 2013

Here is a little peek of the top I am making for one of my nieces (and thanks to Mr. Maxtin for holding it up on such a windy day). They stopped by our home last year on the way back from a cross country trip and she didn't know that I made quilts. When she saw some of them, she asked me to make her one. I wasn't sure how serious she was or if it was just a child like enthusiasm and I didn't want to 1) spend time making it if she wasn't going to appreciate it and 2) go down that road, as we have 13 nieces and nephews, so....what could I be starting?

As I have a pretty large stash, I told her "Sure, I'll make you one, just go pick out what fabrics you like". We were in the craft room for about an hour as she was making her love, sort of ok and no-way piles. In the end, this is what she came up with and she kept telling me "I want squares". I kept the stacks of fabric for a few months, just as she had left them, in case she was serious. Turns out, she really was! The next couple of times we had family events, she would ask me if I had made her quilt yet. The pattern I used was from Moda Bake Shop - they have so many wonderful ones!!

I am hoping to have this all done by Easter as that is the next time I will see her. This time when she asks, I'll be able to say "Yes I have". It is super exciting to make a quilt for someone when you know they will love it and this made me realize a few things.

She doesn't like pink and being a girl, I surely would have expected she did and put some in there. Letting her select her own fabrics makes me know she will love it.

Kids don't forget, they have fantastic memories!

Sometimes using colors outside of your comfort zone allows you see a different kind of beauty.

I'll post some reveal photos after Easter! Linking up to WIP Wednesday!

March 17, 2013

I was so excited when Quilt Con was first announced because
the chance to take a lot of classes was super exciting...until I saw the
price. Classes alone would have been over $500, if I took every class that I wanted, so I had to really think about what I wanted and just pick one! After a good 5
minutes, I decided on Free Motion Quilting on your Home Machine with Elizabeth Hartman. Her style is something that I have
always admired and her books have taught me a lot. Throw in the mix that I have only FMQ’d one quilt and it was perfect timing for what I am ready to learn now.

Elizabeth was a great teacher and I
learned more about pin basting as opposed to spray basting. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought (well except the part about how you really do have to crawl on the floor to do it). She offered tips on needles, thread, techniques, and we talked about quilting with the pedal and without.

She would show us 4 or 5 designs, suggested we would doodle them first and then go to work on just doing it! One thing that makes her such a strong teacher is her style. As we were practicing she was walking between the 20 students and answered questions as they came up, which was appreciated by all of us. Here are some glimpses of my practice (and I'm sorry the lighting isn't good on all of them).

The pattern that was the hardest for me to do was the
meander and that is one that looked the easiest. Everyone that comments about FMQ says practice practice practice, so that is how I intend to get better.

March 16, 2013

So....I have used Feedly for a day and now I am going to try Bloglovin, so....the following link is to verify this blog. No promises that I will stay with it, but I'm willing to test it out! Have you found a favorite yet? If so, please tell me why.

Ginny is our hostess for March and requested a String X block for the Magnum P.I Hive. I was so worried to post this block for her as she had asked for fussy cuts and scrappy. The scrappy was covered, but the fussy cuts.....not so sure. She posted that she loved it. Woo hoo!

And a big whoops on me! I was supposed to make TWO blocks, not one so here is the second one!

Have you even seen a block for the first time and loved it? Well that happened to me when I was peeking in to snoop observe what the other hives were up to for March. This is the block.

photo credit > Kelly Keller

so this is the bonus block that I made for Christine.

Take a peek at some of the other blocks I have made here, here and here earlier in the year.

March 5, 2013

QuiltCon was a blast! So much so that I will need to break up the posts to tell you all about it.

Let's start with Friday evening! Alyssa from Pile O' Fabric hosted
a dinner for the participants of the Skillbuilder BOM and it was fantastic! Aside
from actually meeting other participants and putting a face with a Flickr screen name (and a real name, and a blog name, and a modern quilt guild – so
much to remember) we showed off our Skillbuilder blocks in our Flickr photostream to each other.

Alyssa
was a wonderful hostess, as she had a couple of fun games for us to play. One was to identify fabric (modern of course)
and then Kona colors. I thought for sure
I would nail the Kona colors. Umm,
no. I only got 1 out of 10 correct. Oh well – it was fun anyway. There was also a pin cushion swap but it was
just too far down on my list to get done so I admired all the great pin cushions that everyone else got.

Jolie Maxtin is a participant in Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertisting fees by advertising and linking to products on Amazon.com, that I find useful.